York Supervisors expand mixed-use on historic property

YORK — After much debate over whether land near Naval Weapons Station Yorktown in upper York County should be designated for mixed-use development, a split Board of Supervisors on Tuesday settled on expanding mixed-use in the area rather than shifting it.

The supervisors in a 3 to 2 consensus opted to expand a mixed-use designation from 250 acres bounded by Interstate 64 and the Colonial Parkway to around 985 acres that reaches past the I-64 interchange with Route 199 to the Marquis shopping center. The supervisors formally adopted the change when they unanimously approved an updated draft of the county's Comprehensive Plan, which sets land-use goals.

Nearly 400 acres of the land designated for mixed use, which includes residential and commercial development, has been at the center of a debate between the Navy and the Colonial National Historical Park which opposed mixed-use development because of encroachment and historic preservationists who want the land preserved because of its ties to the Battle of Williamsburg during the Civil War.

Anheuser-Busch owns about 141 acres of the property and has a purchase contract with a local developer. Another 250 acres is owned by the Egger family. Both owners favored mixed-use.

Local historian John Quarstein gave a detailed overview of the history of the property Tuesday, saying that portions of the Egger property including a farm and redoubt were the "apex of the battle." He said Union and Confederate casualties on the properties totaled nearly 1,000 and that it's likely there are still Confederate soldiers buried there.

Quarstein, who has assisted in the preservation of other local Civil War sites, said the area is the "best-preserved section of the battlefield" and that creating a battlefield park there wasn't an "undoable thing." The Civil War Trust and the Navy have both expressed interest in partnering to create a public land trust.

Supervisors Sheila Noll and George Hrichak favored shifting mixed-use away from the Egger property to the Busch property and Marquis shopping center. Noll said an existing mixed-use designation on the Egger property hasn't done anything to spur development there.

Supervisor Walt Zaremba, whose district includes the two properties, hoped expanding mixed-use would give the Navy and other parties incentive to work together on any preservation or development plans.